Event 36 – Jesus’ Crucifixion
Matthew 27:33-56, Mark 15:22-42, Luke 23:33-49, John 19:17b-37
- Jerusalem; Friday, From 9AM-3PM
K They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha J (which in Aramaic K means The Place of the Skull).
M There they offered Jesus water to drink mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. L There they crucified him, along with the criminals – K two robbers L one on his right, the other on his left. K It was the third hour when they crucified him.
J Pilate had a notice prepared K of the charge against him, J and fastened L above him, J to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
L Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
J When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, “They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” So this is what the soldiers did. M And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.
L The people stood watching and the rulers K who passed by hurled insult at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, M save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”
In the same way the chief priest, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked K him saying among themselves, “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! Let L him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One. M He’s the King of Israel! Let K this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and M believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
L The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
J Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
L It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining.
M And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”–which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”
J Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”
A jar of wine vinegar was there, so M immediately one of them ran and J soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips K and offered it to Jesus to drink. M The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
J When he had received the drink Jesus L called out with a loud voice, J “It is finished. L Father into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he J bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
M At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
When the centurion and those with him who were K in front M guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and K heard his cry and saw how he died, M they were terrified, and exclaimed, K “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
L When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
K Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger, and of Joses, and Salmone, M the mother of Zebedee’s sons. They followed Jesus from Galilee to see for his needs. K Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.
J Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”